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Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson tackled the topic of illegal immigration at a non-partisan political forum in Tampa on Friday.
He praised the Trump administration’s crackdowns, but still says there’s more the federal government could do to make hiring foreign workers easier.
At the Tampa Tiger Bay Club forum, Simpson argued that Florida agriculture doesn’t rely much on undocumented farmworkers.
“Just because you drive by a field of people that may not look like you – that doesn’t mean they’re illegal,” Simpson said.
It’s a claim that was contradicted by Governor Ron DeSantis in January. DeSantis wrote that the agriculture industry has an affinity for “cheap, illegal foreign labor.”
A 2023 study from the Florida Policy Institute estimated forty-seven percent of Florida’s farmworkers are undocumented.
Simpson praised the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, but also criticized the process for the H-2A program, which allows US employers to hire foreign farmworkers.
“If the federal government actually wanted to do something, they would fix the H-2A program, which would substantially fix our labor program in agriculture in the state and all over the country,” Simpson said.
Simpson also said Florida’s citrus industry has been decimated.
“We probably peaked at 290 million boxes of fruit 25 years ago. Today we’re going to produce less than ten million boxes,” Simpson said.
Simpson, who grows his own citrus, says he grows it under a cover. And, although that is expensive, it gives him “perfect fruit” free from damage and greening.
He also praised funds in the state budget going towards agriculture research and replanting of citrus for farmers.
Simpson was also asked about a possible run for governor.
He didn’t give a direct answer, but said he will see if “the voters want something different” next year.
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